Carnival Fun

I know you will lurve it

Eugene Domingo stars as the twin sisters in the comedy film Kimmy Dora. These twins are rivals. No one will dare tie them back again with their own umbilical cords. Kimmy and Dora are the daughters of Luisito Go Dong Hae, a tycoon who is estimably one of the most influential settlers of our country. I am not sure whether they are made out of dumplings or kimchi as their surname implies so, but this comedy film will not hasten to use most of your brain for further analysis of its lampoon. To simplify things up, as long as a comedy film makes you laugh, the film itself is already vindicated and could be praised for its worth.

Kimmy is the smart, career-obsessed and devilish head honcho of the company. She is moody to her staff and sadistic to her assistant Gertrude (Miriam Quiambao). But her heart softens when Johnson (Dingdong Dantes) is around despite their differences in ideas when it comes to managing business prospects. Unfortunately, Johnson is more amiable to Dora, the super-special twin sister of Kimmy who is the opposite of her radical behavior. This made Kimmy be upset even more and sibling rivalry in the past has been dug. With the tension on the loose again, the petty fights has led to the heart attack of their father Luisito (Ariel Ureta). While recovering from her father’s ailment, Kimmy finds out that the will and testament favors more to her sister Dora.

Kimmy Dora will be the newest addition in our recent comedies that are exceptional and charming like Ded na si Lolo and Last Supper No. 3. But those two have a different switch, using social satire as a way to provoke laughter. Ang Tanging Ina could be a grand similarity due to its heavy usage of farce and the slapstick. I think these four films combined define what comedy in our times works. We make films for us to laugh but at the same time, it has the aroma of being our own, something that is not time-bounded.

I have said this before and I will repeat it further even if I sound obnoxious. Yes, I am a fan of comedy films. I have high expectations from our filmmakers when these films show up in our theaters and most especially if it’s the slapstick kind of comedy. I do want to progress with my own taste for comedies even if I have sung praises for the works of Charlie Chaplin and Leonid Gaidai. I am not really fond of Woody Allen films but I do regard his works as universal. Why am I saying this? I think most of our writers have this notion that even comedies should be intelligent with its rendering. And most of them dismiss slapstick as a flawed type of comedy. I will definitely disagree and this film Kimmy Dora will prove them wrong without me saying any further. I could have slapped their coconut brains with my IPOD and entrenched them with my Chaplin Collection. That scene for sure will be hilarious. But they could use wit as their defense tactic for this is the only kind that should progress in the comedy arena. And they could mistake slapstick for being offensive and mindless.

But true to the word, slapstick is not really the type of fresh corals that will sway your brains constantly. It is more of the mechanical type, perfunctory with its domain to produce laughter. Kimmy Dora does most of its pleasing moments on this approach. I will not be surprised with its great deal of slaptickness since it’s the territory of the director Joyce Bernal, who have expressed mightily a great form of absurdity and passed it over as a great entertaining film. Chris Martinez as the sole writer has the upper hand in layering its story with humor for its script with a classifiable ordeal of figures of speech. Kimmy mostly utters her lines in hyperbole while her sister Dora is more ‘intelligent’ and discreet for her one-time use of a palindrome, naming her adopted stray dog ‘Mickey’. Kimmy could have thrust her stilettos for its obvious slur. But she is at home with word exaggeration and slang offenses. Kimmy Dora is a great blend of different comedy types and as an outcome, it is miraculously compelling and mind enthralling.

I am more optimistic that our audience will be guided better so that they will eradicate some of its wrong notions towards film appreciation. Slapstick will always be a great form of comedy - if used judiciously. I am really saddened that most of the times, the audience has lots of pretensions that comedies are garbled as a serious matter and should be viewed with all our brain cells moving towards Level Ten – Einstein brainpower. I may be misconstrued for being narrow-minded, boxing the appreciation only to a certain type of comedy. But my point of view is just simply bending the values of a good comedy. The values of our times have changed. Blame consumerism for the abhorrent proclivities towards any form of appreciation. But I don’t mind the trends. I only believe in good films. Whether it is Chaplin or Allen, as long as it makes you laugh, then it proves that the film that you are watching is a good comedy. But always remember, laugh first before you think.


Charlie Koon's Rating:

Crafting Mystery

Neutral Look

Altar is one of the films in last year’s Cinema One 2007 Competition. This is the film I liked most simply because it has a very interesting story and superior cinematography. In most horror-suspense genres, we are perceptibly enthusiastic in speculating the twists the film has integrated within the story. Rico Maria Ilarde has effectively made it in Altar.

Anton (Zanjoe Marudo) returns to the Philippines and finds himself jobless. But then, a mysterious foreman named Erning (Dido dela Paz) hires him together with Lope (Nor Domingo) to a secluded house far from the city. Upon his arrival, Anton senses secrecy lingering in the house. Soon enough, a young girl appears to him asking for help. With much curiosity that has been built-up, Anton together with Lope tries to solve the mystery in the house by entering the basement which the foreman has illicitly prohibited them to go through.

I will not dwell on how ridiculous the maid costumes in the film are. Instead, I will try to be more proactive. Certainly, Altar is commercially viable with its usage of the horror genre. It has been very unique in infusing supernatural beliefs and diabolism. The malevolent envisioning of the evil entity is astonishing. So when it tries to contrive the development of the story it is totally understandable to the very aim of engaging its character and leads it to the plot.

Altar fairs substantially with its eeriness not only with its story’s progression but mostly with the use of symbols, secret codes and fictionalized history of sorcery. It has also included the elements of romance and humor for it does strive for accessibility. But the use of humor has altered a bit its frightening story, thus it could have been avoided. Ilarde’s Sa Ilalim ng Cogon has achieved much on its eccentricity feature. But with Altar, it has attained not only the latter, but also with other layers of what films must consist of not only in it’s strive for a wider audience but also with its remarkable skills in making the story more favorable. The film tries to depict irony in its horror persona. Is it the dreadful looking that we should be more cautious of or the innocent, soft-spoken type? The evil spirit idea has been created brilliantly with much forethought.

Obviously, Altar is my personal choice from the five films shown in last year’s Cinema One Originals. The leverage might have been different on the panel of judges’ personal biases and political clout. But it is noteworthy that the film is beautifully photographed than any other film in competition and it really looks mystifying. Like what I have said, it might be branded as an independent film, but it has made an output that could be viable for commercial release. The sound design, production design, musical scoring adheres to the very aim of the festival itself. Altar is global in outlook, looks very classy (not the hideous acting of the two maids), and it is well photographed. I admire Rico Maria Ilarde and Mammu Chua for there attempt to incorporate the element of surprise within the story and twists within a twist obsession. Altar is uniquely well-made horror-suspense film.

Charlie Koon's Rating: